Opinion
18 CR 696
11-16-2021
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ASHRAF AL SAFOO, a/k/a Abu Al'-Abbas Al-Iraqi, a/k/a Abu Shanab, a/k/a Abbusi
PROTECTIVE ORDER
John Robert Blakey, United States District Judge.
Upon motion of the United States, the Court having considered the facts and circumstances of this case and having considered the positions of the parties, to include the government's classified filings, including objections, if any, the Court makes the following findings:
1) The alternative measures proposed by the government are reasonable and necessary to protect from disclosure the true identity of the FBI Online Covert Employee (“OCE”);
2) Disclosure of the true identity of the OCE would jeopardize ongoing undercover investigations of which they were or are currently involved in;
3) The witness faces a real and substantial risk of danger to themselves and their families if their true identity is disclosed;
4) Disclosure of the true identity of the witness could compromise the government's undercover investigative procedures, which could impair other, ongoing undercover operations; and
5) Disclosure of information about the FBI's Undercover Training Programs could cause serious damage to the national security of the United States.
Based on these findings, and any additional findings made on the record, the following measures will be utilized to protect the true identity of these five undercover witnesses at trial and the operational procedures of the FBI Undercover Program:
1. The witness may testify at trial using a pseudonym without publicly disclosing their true identity;
2. The defense shall be prohibited from asking any questions seeking personal identifying information from the witness, including true name, address, or date of birth;
3. The defense shall be prohibited from asking any questions that would illicit the moniker(s) used by the OCE when he/she engaged with the defendant;
4. The defense shall be prohibited from asking any questions about the witness's participation in past or pending investigations or undercover operations;
5. The defense shall be prohibited from asking any questions regarding any FBI undercover programs writ large to include training and operations;
6. Only the Court, essential courtroom personnel, the defendant and his counsel, the defendant's immediate family members, and the government's trial team shall be present in the courtroom when the witness testify. The government shall arrange for contemporaneous CCTV video or similar broadcast of the courtroom proceeding during the testimony, without the visual image of the witness, which shall be made available for public viewing in another location in the courthouse;
7. No public disclosure of any audio recording, or similar reproduction of the voices or visual images of the witness while testifying, shall be permitted; and
8. The witness shall be permitted to use a non-public entrance/exit to the courthouse and the courtroom.
This Order will remain in effect until further order from the Court.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the government's and defendant's classified motions and accompanying information shall be sealed and maintained in a facility appropriate for the storage of such classified information by the Court Security Officer as the designee of the Clerk of Court, in accordance with established security procedures, for any future review, until further order of this Court.